When a new community coroner is needed, Stewart will try and recruit someone wanting to do help out in the place they live.

“Over the last few years, we’ve been looking for people with some medical or investigative background that we can hopefully build on,” he says. “They of course have to be able to accept the stresses that are involved in this type of endeavour.”

Recruits go through a day of training before they are sent to scenes of death. A full-time coroner, like Stewart, is available around the clock for any questions or issues that come up while they are attending a scene.

Walking up to his first assignment in Carlyle, Bell soon realized serving as a coroner was something he really wanted to do.

Chief Coroner Kent Stewart (L) with Community Coroner Jerry Bell (R) in the office of the Chief Coroner in Regina. Approximately 145 people act as part-time coroners around the province, investigating causes of death, etc. when full-time coroners aren’t able to.

“When I got involved in helping the family, I became connected and committed and decided this is something that I want to do because it fit into the work that I did, and that was helping others,” he says.

When needed, Bell — and other coroners based in Regina — will travel to nearby communities.

Beyond leading the death investigation, determining the cause and manner of death and filling out the necessary paperwork, coroners are responsible for finding and communicating with a recently deceased’s loved ones.

“In some circumstances they’re going to have to be in contact or connection with family and friends until such time an investigation is complete,” says Stewart.

It is that connection to the loved ones that keeps Bell going.

“There is so much of the unknown. It’s the urgency of the crisis that happened for the family. To be able to help them walk through those moments in time, and to be able to try and find the answers,” he said.

“The satisfaction in being a coroner is being able to find the answers for the families. And sometimes the challenge is finding the families. Those are the rewards in the work that we do.”

The coroner’s office will deal with about 1,800 cases every year. Bell will be on call, around the clock, for a few days before someone else takes over the shift.

Saskatchewan Chief Coroner Kent Stewart in Regina. Approximately 145 people act as part-time coroners around the province, investigating causes of death, etc. when full-time coroners aren’t able to.

Sometimes he will get no calls while working. Other times he has gotten up to seven. Each call, on average, takes about three hours.

Every call is different. Coroners get to see the entire spectrum of society. After all, everyone dies. Despite the unique circumstances associated with an individual death, Bell finds a sense of normalcy.

“My philosophy is every family’s reaction to a crisis, and in particular a death, is normal at that time – and it’s to help family understand that reaction is normal,” he said.

Even after thousands of cases, Bell says he can recall each and every person for whose death he has served as coroner.

“It’s something that we never forget. We carry those cases with us,” he says.

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